Homemade caramel – a sweet and salty treat!

Happy weekend! I would say that sometimes it’s a big struggle trying to find good caramel not filled with… let’s say unknown ingredients and strange after-tastes. So I decided to make my own caramels, and they turned out sticky, sweet, a bit salty, and absolutely delicious! It’s hard to stop eating them, honestly, but I’m trying to manage my weight, so I’m ignoring them as best I can (hard when I have a large jar of them on my desk). But I recommend giving them a try if you love caramels or candy!

Ingredients:

·      ½ cup water

·      2 cups sugar

·      1 vanilla bean, split and seeds scraped

·      1 can condensed milk

·      1 cup light corn syrup

·      12 tbsp (1.5 sticks) softened butter

·      1 tsp salt

·      Sea salt

Lightly butter a 9x13-baking pan. Combine all the ingredients except the salt in a heavy-bottomed 4-quart saucepan. Bring the mixture up to a boil while stirring constantly. Continue to stir until the mixture reaches 245ºF. Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the salt. Remove the vanilla bean, and pour the mixture into the prepared pan. Sprinkle a bit of sea salt over the top and allow the caramel to cool to room temperature (let it sit for at least 2 hours). Remove from the pan, slice into strips using a very sharp knife, and cut the strips into bite-sized pieces. Wrap the caramel candies in parchment or wax paper individually to keep fresh. You’re all set! ^_^

Tempura Eggs - Deep-fried eggs, how's it done?

Hello hello hello! Wondering about this recipe? Imagine a soft-boiled egg encompassed in a crispy tempura layer, covered in a sweet-salty sauce, over a bowl of rice. That is this recipe! But how exactly do you deep-fry an egg like that? So here’s the secret: you have to freeze the eggs! Eggs in the refrigerator last up to 21 days, but in the freezer they can last up to 50 days. When frozen, the shells crack around them and are easy to remove. Follow the recipe below to finish up this delicious dish!

Ingredients:

·      2 large eggs, frozen

·      1 cup flour + extra for coating the eggs

·      1 tbsp cornstarch

·      1 cup seltzer water

·      2 tsp salt

·      2 tsp black pepper

·      1.5 cups dark soy sauce

·      1.5 cup mirin

·      3 pieces dried konbu seaweed (3-inch length pieces)

·      ¾ cup bonito flakes

·      Bowl of rice to put finished items on

Combine the 1 cup flour, cornstarch, seltzer water, salt, and pepper in a small bowl. This is the tempura batter. Place the bowl in the fridge until ready to use.

Combine the soy sauce, mirin, konbu, and bonito flakes in a pan, and bring the mixture to a boil. Simmer the mixture gently over medium heat until the liquid has reduced to about two-thirds. Let it cool, then strain and store in a bottle.

Heat a large amount of oil in a large pot to 375ºF. Remove the eggs from the freezer, peel the shells off, roll the eggs in the extra flour, and dip the eggs into the tempura batter and coat evenly. Drop the eggs into the hot oil, keeping the oil around 320ºF while frying, and fry for about 10 minutes. Remove to a metal rack to let the oil drain off. Pour some of the sauce you made over the bowl of rice, place the fried eggs on top, top with a bit of extra sauce, and you’re all done!

Omurice - Fried Rice Omelet

Long time no post! Sorry about the long delay; vacation plus preparing for college took a lot of time out of me, but I’m back now! Today’s recipe is Omurice! This is a classic Japanese bento item, where you fill an egg pancake with sweet and salty fried rice. You can add your favorite fried rice recipe to this, or you can use mine as a reference, but as always, please don’t follow it exactly. Cooking is all about experimentation and creating your very own food. ^_^

Ingredients:

·      2 large eggs

·      ¼ - ½ tsp salt

·      1 tsp soy sauce

·      1 cup cooked white rice

·      1 tsp – 1 tbsp ketchup

·      1 tsp – 1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce

·      ½ - 1 small onion, chopped

·      1 tbsp red pepper, chopped

·      2 tbsp carrots, chopped

Heat a frying pan over medium-high heat with some oil. Sautee the onion, pepper, and carrots in the pan until translucent and cooked through. Add the rice, ketchup, and Worcestershire sauce, and stir to combine. Whisk the eggs, salt, and soy sauce together in a bowl. Heat a separate frying pan over medium heat, pour the egg into the frying pan, and cook without stirring until cooked without browning. Flip the egg pancake over and cook the over side the same way. When finished, place some of the fried rice on half the egg pancake, fold the empty half of the pancake over the over half, and place the finished omelet on a plate. All done!

Taking a break

Hello! From this past Sunday until August 7th, I will be on vacation with my family in Paris and London, so I will not be putting any posts up. I'll definitely upload some delicious recipes when I come back, so until then, keep having fun in the kitchen! ^_^

Neapolitan Spaghetti

So everyone knows the typical spaghetti and meatballs, penne vodka, chicken alfredo… But one pasta dish that I really enjoy (and is incredibly easy to make) is Neapolitan Spaghetti! It’s a bit of a sweet pasta, but it’s really delicious and a fun comfort food to eat late at night when you need a snack. Enjoy!

Ingredients:

·      6 oz spaghetti

·      1 bell pepper, seeds removed and cut into strips

·      1 yellow onion, thinly sliced

·      2 slices of bacon, chopped into small pieces

·      2 tbsp ketchup

·      1 tsp Worcestershire sauce

·      Salt and pepper

Cook the spaghetti according to the package directions. Drain and run with cold water to prevent further cooking.

Heat a couple tablespoons of vegetable oil in a large frying pan or wok and cook the bacon. Add the onions and bell pepper, and add salt and pepper to taste. Once the onions and peppers are soft, add the ketchup and Worcestershire sauce. Add the spaghetti to the frying pan and cook until everything has been thoroughly combined and heated through.

Bento Fun

A lot of the time throughout our lives we’ve made homemade lunches for ourselves, but the Japanese call a boxed lunch “bento.” A bento usually contains leftovers with some fresh side dishes, and it’s placed in small sections in cute containers. For example, if you had pasta for dinner the previous night, add some of that pasta in a container and add a couple of newly made meatballs, carrots, and chocolate-covered strawberries, and you’re all set! You can put together whatever you’d like in your bento, have as much fun with it as you’d like, and make it cute or cool or however you want! I put a picture below of a large bento I put together with my boyfriend. We made omurice (fried rice omelet, and we decorated it with ketchup!), dumplings, cucumber and dill sandwiches, grilled cheese, brownies, and strawberries. Have fun with your bentos! 

Simple Homemade Brownies

No longer do you have to buy the brownie mixes; those days are no more! This is a very straightforward brownie recipe, and it is both fudgy and delicious!

Ingredients:

·      ¾ cup unsweetened cocoa powder

·      ½ tsp baking soda

·      2/3 cup vegetable oil

·      ½ cup boiling water

·      2 cups granulated sugar

·      2 eggs

·      1 1/3 cup all-purpose flour

·      1 tsp vanilla extract

·      ¼ tsp salt

·      Chocolate chips (optional)

Preheat the oven to 350ºF and grease a 9x13 inch baking pan. Combine the cocoa powder and baking soda in a large bowl. Add the vegetable oil and boiling water and mix until well combined. Add the eggs and sugar and stir together. Add the vanilla and salt, stir to combine, and then add the flour and blend together. (Stir in the chocolate chips) Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake in the oven for 35 to 40 minutes.

Enjoy~!